Optical communication links have been deployed to transport data from one point to another. Optical communication links are capable of greater speeds and/or bandwidths than traditional electrical signals in copper wires or coaxial cables. Optical communication links have been used in client-to-client or trunk-to-core systems in the telecommunications industry.
To insure that receivers are not damaged or overloaded, attenuators are added to the optical communication links. In optical networks utilizing power lasers or wavelength division multiplexing applications, attenuators protect the receivers from saturation or other damage. Also, attenuators are used to test the performance of an optical product through parametric testing such as the receiver sensitivity or functional testing (e.g., attenuated loop backs). However, the attenuators are mechanically bulky and cannot be implemented in smaller applications.